


Ichihime have a picnic

by MorganFaire



Category: Bleach
Genre: F/M, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-11
Updated: 2021-02-11
Packaged: 2021-03-18 02:07:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 876
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29360772
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MorganFaire/pseuds/MorganFaire
Summary: Roughly one month passed since Renji & Rukia's wedding before Ichigo worked up the nerve to talk to Orihime, and they are together for a week before they invite some friends for a picnic.
Relationships: Inoue Orihime/Kurosaki Ichigo
Comments: 2
Kudos: 5





	Ichihime have a picnic

**Author's Note:**

> Full disclosure, this is also Chapter Sixteen of 'Return to Seireitei, Mysterious Shinigami!'. I've now decided to post it seperately, in order to reach Ichihime fans who may not want to read an eighteen chapter fiction!
> 
> And if you've never read any of my other postings, this is fair warning that I do write character names the way they are supposed to be written! I.E. Kurosaki Ichigo, not Ichigo Kurosaki (blech). I also leave some words in *romanised japanese* and translate them in the end notes.

The young couple had arranged a large picnic in one of the local parks for all of their friends so that they could share the news of their relationship. They have only been together for a week, but with the family trip to Seireitei planned for the following weekend, this Saturday seemed as good a time as any; especially when they had realised everyone invited was scheduled to work at events during the upcoming Golden Week.

Orihime had, of course, prepared all kinds of foods that were strange for anyone but herself. Yuzu had prepared some of the more ‘standard’ picnic foods including a whole stack of bentou, for which Ichigo was very grateful. Since their arrival some fifteen minutes earlier, Orihime has been busying herself by arranging and rearranging the items they had spread out on the large blanket. At this point, it looks more like a buffet.

Ichigo laughs when she once again switches around the plates of food. “It looks great no matter how you arrange it all, ‘hime!” He reaches for her hand and pulls her over. “C’mon, what’s bothering you?”

“Do you think,” she paused to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear, “won’t it look strange that we both got here first?”

“So that’s it, huh? I’d say it’s not all that strange. This picnic, everyone thinks it’s your idea in the first place, and look at all this food! It’s obvious that you didn’t bring it all here yourself, not to mention the fact that Yuzu’s bentou all have her name on them. Would you please try and relax now? They should all start arriving soon,” he said.

When Orihime nods, he plants a kiss on her forehead.

Soon enough, their friends began to trickle towards them. In all, they had invited the six people they considered to be their closest friends; Ishida Uryuu, Sado Yasutora, Arisawa Tatsuki, Asano Keigo, Kojima Mizuiro, and Honshou Chizuru. Orihime had also tried to invite Dokugamine Riruka, but the young fullbringer had declined after Orihime told her the rest of the invitees. Luckily, it was Tatsuki and Chizuru who had arrived first and finally calmed Orihime down a bit.

In the two years since they had all graduated from Karakura High, this was the first time that they would all be congregating together at the same time. Even though they had all helped embroider Rukia’s wedding veil the month before, it had proved impossible to have them all in the same place for any amount of time. It meant they all had a lot of catching up to do.

“I can’t believe it’s already been a month since we were last in Seireitei,” says Uryuu.

Ichigo and Orihime had already agreed not to mention their upcoming trip and the reason for it. “So what’s everyone been up to?” He asks.

Tatsuki boasts of her latest set of Karate tournament victories before turning to Ichigo. “There’s a kid who cries as much as you used to in one of my classes now. He’s an annoying little shit too!”

“Karma’s a bitch,” Ichigo retorts around a mouthful of **_kare-pan_ **. “Maybe if you’d let me win occasionally back then, you wouldn’t be having this issue now.”

“Perhaps, but it’s also possible that Arisawa-san’s constant beatings were what made you such a stubborn opponent later on. Everytime you lost a fight back then you’d come back stronger, Kurosaki-san.”

Ichigo glares in Uryuu’s direction, eyebrows furrowing in an attempt to formulate some kind of comeback. Tatsuki roars with laughter before slapping Uryuu across the back to thank him for the compliment, regardless of how off-handed it might have been.

After almost two hours of talking, laughing, and eating, Ichigo draws Orihime’s attention and decides it was time for their announcement. “This picnic wasn’t just so that we could all catch up. Recently, as most of you know, Rukia and Renji got married. When we went up for the ceremony, Renji told me that he’d been sitting on his feelings for a long time whilst everything was going on. Basically, it made me realise some feelings of my own…for Orihime. We hope you can all be happy for us.”

The first to react is Chizuru, who flings her arms around Orihime's neck and sobs loudly whilst mumbling her congratulations. Tatsuki peels Chizuru away from Orihime before throwing Ichigo a look. “This is your job from now on!” She says gesturing at Chizuru who now cries into her shoulder.

“First Kuchiki-chan gets hitched, and now Inoue-chan’s taken too?! There’s gonna be no cuties left for us soon enough, Mizuiro~!” Keigo says under his breath.

“ _ **Hai hai**. _ Whatever you say, Asano-san.”

After noticing that the sky was darkening with the threat of bad weather, the friends bid each other farewell and gave more congratulations to the couple.

Ichigo watches the last of their friends leave before wrapping his arms around Orihime’s waist. "That wasn't too bad! Will you admit to being too worried about it now?"

"Mhm. I actually got the impression they had all expected it!" She replies, leaning her head back onto his shoulder.

"Yep. I know I said it before, but I'm sorry I kept you waiting."

"I never would have stopped waiting for you, Ichigo.”

* * *

**Author's Note:**

> Golden Week - A week of festivals in many areas of Japan, usually during the last week of April.  
> Kare-pan - A Japanese convenience food of a bread bun filled with curry sauce/paste! 'Kare-' pseudo-English (wasei eigo) word for Curry. 'Pan' from the french word for Bread.  
> Hai hai - The equivalent of 'yeah yeah', as a means of dismissing what someone else said.
> 
> If you liked this, you might enjoy my other Ichihime short - Ichihime go to Tanabata!


End file.
